Marth 15-th The End of Facebook

[Kaination]

If you have 514 people you actually consider friends, then I am a purple rhinocerus riding a milk-carton through the cosmos, and Carl Sagan is riding my back reading me bedtime stories.

There's probably a few I don't talk to often, but most people I've talked to were friends in high school. Not best friends, but friends. If anything, I can probably point to any friends on my friend list and list one good memory with them. Not one person have I added, simply for the purpose of 'lol omg random person hiiiiiii'

To me, that's considered a friend and facebook worthy. Facebook friends don't have to be best friends.

Sounds like you lead an exciting life, Mr. Rhinocerus.

 

[Avenger]

Oh, so that's how you get 514 friends. You just lower your standards for what counts as a friend. Got'cha. The magic of Facebook, everybody.

 

[The Deco]

I agree. Kain, I think you mean most of them are acquaintances.

 

[Prozac]

I know every single one of my friends on facebook, and I have 514 friends. I don't really add people I don't know.

Dunbar's number would like a word with your definition of friends. I'm not doubting that you know, or have known that many people. But to suggest you're actually in touch with all of them in a friendship defining way is a bit over the top.
Having a lot of friends on facebook is only for showing off. Doesn't take away that it's a good medium for staying in touch, or regaining contact with people you've lost contact with.

 

[Synth]

I just realized I now have 347,061 friends.

I think I've said, "Hello" to that many people.

 

[Sicron]

Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistent basis:

- The tendency to desire what is best for the other
- Sympathy and empathy
- Honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one's counterpart
- Mutual understanding and compassion
- Trust in one another (able to express feelings - including in relation to the other's actions - without the fear of being judged); able to go to each other for emotional support
- Positive reciprocity - a relationship is based on equal give and take between the two parties.

Honestly, you don't have 514 friends. You just have 514 people you happen to know on Facebook.

Types of friendships

Acquaintance: a friend, but sharing of emotional ties isn't present. An example would be a coworker with whom you enjoy eating lunch or having coffee, but would not look to for emotional support. Many "friends" that appear on social networking sites are generally acquaintances in real life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship

 

[EvolutionX]

LoL! What is a 514 friends? I have 250+, but my friends have 1000+ friends, but 900 of them don't recognize them!

 

[Kaination]

I have a couple of acquantinces on facebook. a good 90% of my facebook friends are going to be friends, no acquantinces.

I'm just not a loner or a weird kid or a jerk or whatever. I'm a friendly guy, I don't know what it is but people tend to like me. As stuck up as that sounds, it's true. In high school I made friends, not acquantinces, with goth kids, preppy kids, gangster kids, thugs, stoners, nerds, everyone. My personality was universal. and I loved attention, so of course I'd try to make as many friends as possible.

So with that, yeah, I don't talk to a lot of them anymore. But I did at one point, and pretty much anyone on my friends list I've worked on projects and hung outside of school with. If that doesn't count as a friend, then no, I don't have a low standard on friends. You just have an incredibly high one.

The magic of not being socially rejected, everybody.

 

[The Deco]

So if you hung someone once or twice they are now your friends? I don't think its even possible to maintain close relationships with that many people, unless you dedicate your life for it.

 

[Chakra-X]

This is more like a game of semantics than the degradation of meaningful relationships. Not everyone on your AIM buddy list was always your "buddy" so a "friend" on facebook is not literally going to be someone you're close with.

Really it's not that big of a deal. You know who you care about the most and you let them know that by your actions, regardless if you happen to add them on facebook as a "friend". Would it be this much of an issue if instead of saying "504 friends" it said "504 contacts"?

 

[Sicron]

To be honest, yeah, they should change that. Young kids these days are already learning that milk comes from a supermarket, not a cow. What's next? Some random person who just wants to play Farmville with you, is a true friend? While we may be able to distinguish the difference between a true friend and a Facebookfriend, newer generations will slowly stop to see the lines between these different 'types' of friend. It could change the entire definition of the word friend in the future. I don't know how other people think about this, but I'd find it rather disturbing to be honest.

 

[Kaination]

Meh, honestly I really don't care whether you guys are opposing my idea of this ****. No one but me was there when we all hung out and I made all my friends, so I don't really give a ****, lol.

Pretty ******* stoked facebook isn't ending. It's such a convenient way to send out invitations to go drink, go party, have fun, plan **** out. I love it to death.

 

[Mkilbride]

I don't have many friends, and I don't mean on Facebook, friends are people I feel a connection to, talk, and in general like. Not someone who was nice to me, said hello, and we talked for 15 minutes.

 

[Chakra-X]

To be honest, yeah, they should change that. Young kids these days are already learning that milk comes from a supermarket, not a cow. What's next? Some random person who just wants to play Farmville with you, is a true friend? While we may be able to distinguish the difference between a true friend and a Facebookfriend, newer generations will slowly stop to see the lines between these different 'types' of friend. It could change the entire definition of the word friend in the future. I don't know how other people think about this, but I'd find it rather disturbing to be honest.

Kids are retarded and always will be. Remember when a dude inviting you to his party meant you were "his friend"? Or if a chick sat next to you, that totally meant she was in to you? Facebook is just another medium for them to be idiots on. You see it all the time in online games, chatrooms, and forums. They will eventually mature and realize what a true friend is, and then of course you will have the socially awkward ones that may cling to it, but I blame the internet as a whole for making critically social outcasts more apparent.

Kain you're a goddamn friendwhore but at least you're happy. I actually deleted 80something "friends" of mine because I felt I no longer needed a digital connection to them. I would actually like to keep my information at a smaller availability, even if it's mundane.

Facebook changed the game and the haters can hate all they want, the world will just move on without them.

At least with Facebook you are accountable for what you type on the internet. This is one of my quips with forums, YouTube, online games, *****, etc. Anonymity. Most of us have "known" each other for awhile on this forum, but hell who cares if you act like an ******* with the post above yours, you don't know them. You'll never meet them. It's the internet who cares, lolz. I associate that mindset with the violently, face-plam-it-ly, misinformed YouTube comments, or the disturbingly, questionably illegal comments on *****, or the pompous, egomaniacal raging in online games. No one gives a **** because they are behind a screen, which I feel is degrading morality and general decency more than Facebook is.

At least if you act like a dick on Facebook, everyone will know about it the next day.

 

[Grega]

http://roosterteeth.com/comics/strip.php?id=1711

Caugh XD

 

[DarkNeji]

Kids are retarded and always will be.

Wauw.. Someone had a bad childhood, I believe fragile is the word you should have used..

 

[Chakra-X]

http://roosterteeth.com/comics/strip.php?id=1711

Caugh XD

Facebook apps bug me, I rarely use them and if I do I delete them right afterwards. Now these can range from apps that use your pictures for thumbnails, like "compare friend x to friend y!" apps, but others I do not see a reason for them to have access to that information. You are prompted of this though before you run the app, but I feel like they should list all of the data they will be pulling from you and why.

Wauw.. Someone had a bad childhood, I believe fragile is the word you should have used..

"Fragile" is coddling. Fight break out because of Facebook, kids have gotten in to situations ranging from asinine to unsafe because of Facebook conversations. Last summer, flash mobs were organized downtown by kids on facebook because they had nothing better to do.

Of course kids are going to be kids. Their brains literally are not as developed as an adult so their behavior may not make sense to us, but that doesn't make their stupid **** okay. They are going to act out in ways they only know how, but they abuse the internet for their petty quarrels, misguided agendas, and potentially dangerous activities. If kids were called out for their ridiculous behavior by people other than their parents, they could become self aware of their behavior.

I dream of the day when teenagers because self conscious for acting like teenagers.

 

[Rocky]

At least with Facebook you are accountable for what you type on the internet. This is one of my quips with forums, YouTube, online games, *****, etc. Anonymity. Most of us have "known" each other for awhile on this forum, but hell who cares if you act like an ******* with the post above yours, you don't know them. You'll never meet them. It's the internet who cares, lolz. I associate that mindset with the violently, face-plam-it-ly, misinformed YouTube comments, or the disturbingly, questionably illegal comments on *****, or the pompous, egomaniacal raging in online games. No one gives a **** because they are behind a screen, which I feel is degrading morality and general decency more than Facebook is.

At least if you act like a dick on Facebook, everyone will know about it the next day.

I strongly agree with what you're saying, any many people are finding their facebook stupidity biting them in the ass later in life when they go for a job interview and after the interview their (potential) future boss looks them up on Facebook and sees all the stupid **** they've done (hint: "Just got trashed last night and threw up in my neighbours pool" is not a good thing for a prospective boss to see on your wall).

Facebook apps are come and go, as someone who's had a hand in making a couple, they can be fun and engaging if done correctly, I tend to stay away from the quizzes, and the more or less junky apps that random people put together to try and gain supporters and/or money, but of the two apps I've made, both were for competitions, one for the major insurance company in Australia that utilised Facebook connect (essentially you build your website and allow Facebook login and to pull in data stored on Facebook), the gimmick was that you log in with FB, fill out a competition form, and the "app" in the background pulls out 70 odd friend profiles of yours and skins them onto a model of a car and you can post the car image to your wall and be like "HEY! see if your faces are on my car!" The competition being that you could win the car.

Yes, it's gimmicky and yes it's clearly an attempt to get people to sign up for contact by the company later (I work in advertising...sue me) but it's cute and it's fun and ends up being a pretty cool thing in the end.

The other app I made was a little less exciting, was a flash game loosely based on the Price is Right gameshow that stored peoples data and high scores and winners were selected on a weekly basis, had the whole challenge your friends thing to get more people involved, was kinda cool.